


The Choice of a Lifetime

by Jrade



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Finally a Talon healer, Medical Experimentation, Oh and look there he is, Origin Story, Other, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Protective-of-his-team Reyes is something I quite like, Science magic!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 05:18:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12624102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jrade/pseuds/Jrade
Summary: Gabriel Reyes is excited about the possibilities that are posed by his team's new acquisition, and Moira is excited by the freedoms that her new position will afford. It seems like they agree on everything.Or at least, nearly.





	The Choice of a Lifetime

Moira's lips twitched into a grin of their own volition, her fingertips ghosting along the smooth metal of the machinery.

"As you can see, we've got every bit of the technological advancement, without the pointless holdouts. We recognize here at Blackwatch that desperate times call for desperate measures, and... well," a chuckle sounded from behind her, "even if the times aren't desperate, that's no reason to stifle advances."

"My thoughts exactly," she murmured through barely-moving lips, her eyes fixed on her own finger as it brushed along a piece of apparatus. The light glinted off of one of her fingernails, and along with it sharpened her grin.

She turned suddenly but fluidly, spinning and crossing her arms, raising an eyebrow and studying her new compatriot, new teammate, new employer. New boss. The term hardly mattered.

"I've been reviewing the records while we were waiting for the equipment to get set up," she dropped her eyes to her own hand, idly moving her fingers and watching the tendons and joints shift under her skin. Just because she was new to the team didn't mean she couldn't get started right away. "Anderson's accuracy at the range is down, his times on the obstacle course are only getting longer. He's clearly on the decline. I think he'd be the perfect subject to continue development."

"So soon?" Reyes raised a dark eyebrow - not suspiciously, only curiously.

"It would have been even sooner if I had my way," she chuckled. As her hand curled into a loose fist, a determined and delighted grin overtook her lips. "The science is sound, the developments unquestionable - the things I have  _accomplished_ are almost beyond what I had hoped. Animal testing is finished. Preliminary human tests?" She chuckled, waving a hand at the dark man studying her. "I stand as testament. Now, it is time to stop idly poking around. It is  _time_ to try a full integration."

Reyes studied her for a long moment, no reaction in his eyes or on his lips, nor anywhere on his face. No cheek twitched, no nostril flared, he didn't even breathe. Only locked her eyes and held them.

She stared back unafraid.

"Nobody off my team," he eventually provided with a grunt, and she had a moment of... something.

Something between disappointment and surprise and a sense of inevitability - the momentary emotion that an eyeroll would have captured so perfectly, yet escaped language to describe. He was a coward just like the rest of them; maybe he talked a bigger game, maybe his fences were a little wider out, maybe he permitted a little bit more length in his leash, but it was still there. She was still bound to somebody else's petty ideas.

"Me."

The single word surprised her into soft silence, stilling a retort on her tongue as Reyes stepped forward and into the chair. He pulled off his shirt and then looked to her.

Far be it from her to complain. This would only be a better demonstration anyway.

Smiling, she attached all of the necessary test leads to him - made the necessary preparations, such as they were, and then laid a hand on his shoulder. She curled her fingers in, just slightly, just enough so that the tips of her nails pressed tiny indentations into his skin.

"Are you ready?"

He glanced over with a confident smirk. "Always."

She pulled a screen toward herself with a chuckle and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Then let's begin..."

**Author's Note:**

> Why did I write this? Because I like a slightly more morally-ambiguous Reyes and I'm a little worried that he's on his way out.
> 
> So, there it is! I like the idea of Reyes caring about his team pretty deeply, and my wife suggested the idea that perhaps he volunteered as test subject in order to catch that bullet himself, so to speak.
> 
> Or, maybe he was just power-hungry, I guess we'll see which way Blizzard goes with it. Or maybe it was one of a hundred other options, as well - I really don't know at this point, heh! All I know is that I like more ambiguous characters, myself. Sombra, working for Talon whilst trying to uncover a large and seemingly dangerous-to-the-world plot; Soldier: 76, ultimately fighting for right but at what cost? With what limit? With how much rage boiling within him? Even Winston - a man who looked at the world always through rose-tinted glasses (leant to him by his father, perhaps) and saw that world turn ugly and violent and tear his family to pieces, outlaw them, say they were wrong - and he _accepted_ it. he listened to the rules and the laws and he backed down.  
> ...for a while. Then it went too far and he picked up arms again, hit that big Recall button, and set a whole bunch of things into motion.
> 
> I really like the complexity of ambiguity. McCree who has been painted as not giving a damn about laws, but caring quite a lot about right vs wrong - he gave Talon what they wanted in order to get them off of the train and save innocent lives. Contrast that with, for instance, Pharah - quite rules-oriented and strictly so; she ordered an injured civilian abandoned in order to not slow down the mission because of its importance.  
> I don't think either of them were wrong to have done so, but it's the ambiguity of the acts which makes them interesting - McCree was ostensibly aiding Talon, Pharah was ostensibly killing a civilian, and the way that fits in with the larger framework is what created the depth and the interest, to me.
> 
> I'm a little worried that some of that might be leaving, might be getting taken away. I don't want to see all the Talon-aligned heroes just be big dicky jerks who want to hurt people and I don't want to see all the others be perfect paragons who can do no wrong! Doomfist was really interesting because he was intentionally doing what he admitted as really terrible things, but with the sole goal of improving humanity - a sociopathic humanitarian, you could say. At least, that's what was professed. Fact, of course, remains up for interpretation, but that's the whole point I'm making.
> 
> Ambiguity can be interpreted. McCree can be swung to this side of an issue or that, or Genji, or many of the others because they're not nailed down - depends on the issue, depends on the setting, depends on who's asking, of course, yes. That's what gives them character. However, if they take Reaper, for instance, and make him a guy who just straight-up likes hurting people, any people, all people, all the time, and he's always been that way even when he was Gabe Reyes, well...
> 
> ...where's the interpretation? Where's the interest? I, personally, don't think I'd see it.
> 
> All of that said (and it was an awful lot to say, wasn't it? Whew!) I'm really excited about Moira and I'm really excited about the future of Overwatch. Talon healer? Excellent - finally, thank you! Possible inklings into Widowmaker's backstory (now that we have a Talon person involved in the medical field) cool! Revelations about Reaper's backstory? Fucking excellent!
> 
> There's just a tiny bit of me that worries about what those revelations might entail. I do want to know their pasts, I do want to know their characters, but I want them to continue to be rounded and complex and interesting.
> 
> ...and, for what it's worth, I'll endeavour to do my best to ensure the same from my end! Anyway, thanks for reading my story (and I guess my rant, too, heh) folks! Hope you have a great day


End file.
